After a record-breaking Philadelphia Marathon Weekend, race officials donated close to $200,000 in clothing to the Salvation Army on Tuesday, November 21.

Athletes layer up the morning of a marathon to ensure their muscles are warm and they’re ready to run. But once the horn sounds and the athletes take off, they begin to take a lot of their outerwear off as they get into their stride.

That’s when Philadelphia Marathon Weekend race staff and volunteers step in. Once the final corral of athletes takes off, race staff and volunteers begin their sweep of the streets, collecting the discarded outerwear from the athletes. Hundreds of bags of discarded sweatshirts, jackets, sweaters, hats, and other mixed clothing articles were collected for donation.

Marathoners know that this effort exists, and will oftentimes wear high-end outerwear purposefully to have it donated to charity. Together, dozens of race staff and volunteers collected and bagged enough discarded clothing items to fill three 16-foot box trucks. 

Philadelphia Marathon Weekend Race Director Kathleen Titus was greeted by Major Daniel Alverio, Central Administrator of The Salvation Army, and together they helped unload the trucks filled with over 450 bags of necessary outwear ahead of the holidays and winter season.

This is one of the many sustainability efforts that Philadelphia Marathon Weekend implements to reduce the event’s carbon footprint and make environmental strides through initiatives that reduce waste, reuse resources and recycle materials.